It's Time to Spray DDT (NYT)...

[Sgent]

If the U.S. wants to help people in tsunami-hit countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia - not to mention other poor countries in Africa - there's one step that would cost us nothing and would save hundreds of thousands of lives. It would be to allow DDT in malaria-ravaged countries.

<snip>

I called the World Wildlife Fund, thinking I would get a fight. But Richard Liroff, its expert on toxins, said he could accept the use of DDT when necessary in anti-malaria programs.

"South Africa was right to use DDT," he said. "If the alternatives to DDT aren't working, as they weren't in South Africa, geez, you've got to use it. In South Africa it prevented tens of thousands of malaria cases and saved lots of lives."

At Greenpeace, Rick Hind noted reasons to be wary of DDT, but added: "If there's nothing else and it's going to save lives, we're all for it. Nobody's dogmatic about it."

Link: NYT Editorial

[UL_Approved]

1. When all else fails...

DDT is not exactly the most environmentally friendly chemical substance known to man, but it works like magic on mosquitoes. Yes, it will cause damage to the environment, but when push comes to shove, we have to take a lesser evil to prevent a greater one.

One thing to note, however. They had better make sure that they do some kind of monitoring on spraying (or dusting, rather) of the DDT. The last thing that they need to do is destroy all of the bird populations over there by mistake...